Good evening...I have a 4 months old Salem Hemisphere fiver and have an awning question. It's an electric 21' awning that has performed as expected. Push the button to extend...push other side of button to retract. After our last camping trip, I could really get the awning to retract. It would just barely moved toward closing...and then woudl stop. I tried this a few times and the same results. It would extend just fine. Finally got it to retract, but does so at a speed about 1/3 of that it extends at.Tonight I went to retract the awning and the same thing happend. But try as I might, I couldn't get it to retract. It would extend find, though. But I picked up my remote control...and it retracted first try -- albeit at 1/3 of the extend speed.When the camper was new, extending and retracting would happen at the same speed. Any advice would be both helpful and appreciated.Thanks in advance.

Humm, not sure on this one, if its extending at proper speed, an the retracting slower, sounds like a bind of some sort. Seeing that its such a new unit, have you thought about looking into the warranty. Im not aware of any lubrication points on the electric. Does the cover look centered?

Check to see if it is a Dometic awning and the assembly date, which should be on a label somewhere. There is a recall on approximately 27,000 Dometic motorized awnings mfg., between Feb. 13, 2013 and April 9, 2013. I have a new 5th. wheel mfg., in March and had to have the awning motor replaced.Dometic Awning Recall

Have you checked your battery? What is the water-level in the battery-cells?Electric-motors are a big draw on less than full charge batteries. Has the awning been lubricated at the joints, and kept clean from dirt?Low battery(s) will slow the motor, and can also cause motor failure from over-heating while trying to run on low voltage. The motor used may be too small for the larger sized awnings.

Verify full charge on the battery first.

Excellent point about the battery. Of note, each time I've rolled the awning in or out, I've been connected to shore power. The meter inside the camper shows the batter as having a full charge, but I have not put my eyes on the water level or tested with a hygrometer. I will do so this evening.With all that said, why would awning retraction require more effort than awning extension?Thanks, everyone. I'll report back my findings after work today. We leave tomorrow morning for a 5-day trip. On my list is to determine how to wind in the awning manually if I need to...and ensuring I have the proper tools to do so. I'll make an assumption there is something I can access in the motor cover that allows me to manually turn the motor/gear?

Slow awning | Good Sam Community

peaches_cream
Explorer
Jul 31, 2013
I have a Carefree Electric Awning on my MH and I have found using "dry lube" instead of silicone makes mine much smoother. Silicone does not seem to lube the metal parts as well as the dry lube.
Don_McL
Explorer
Jul 31, 2013
fixed my dometic today by replacing the wire that goes up the arm to the motor.

i had the same symptoms as the op.

never checked the voltage, wire looked iffy where it made the turn going into the coach.

don
DazedNConfused
Explorer
Jul 30, 2013
amrakdg wrote:
Yes, any connection and friction points, including the track.

Cheers.

Okay...thanks for the tip. I keep a can of spray silicone I use from time on the kingpin to keep things sliding along. I can hit the awning parts as well.
amrakdg
Explorer
Jul 30, 2013
Yes, any connection and friction points, including the track.

Cheers.
DazedNConfused
Explorer
Jul 29, 2013
amrakdg wrote:
Part of the maintenance requirements for my electric awning is to apply silicone spray to the arms. Perhaps that is all you need to do.

Good luck.

Do you mean at any of the connection/friction points? Seems to be running in a little faster now...and my landing gear is moving with more authority as well. While this may not be the only issue, the battery being a little low sounds like it was a contributor.
amrakdg
Explorer
Jul 29, 2013
Part of the maintenance requirements for my electric awning is to apply silicone spray to the arms. Perhaps that is all you need to do.

Good luck.
DazedNConfused
Explorer
Jul 29, 2013
I checked the fluid level this afternoon at lunch today...and each of the 6 cells was down about 4oz of water. I topped each one off. I wanted to check the specific gravity of each, but where I though I had a hygrometer for checking the batter, it turned to be a gauge to measure coolant performance. So I topped off the batter, closed it up, and after our camping trip this week I'll pick up a hygrometer and check the specific gravity and see what kind of shape I'm in.

Thanks again.
DazedNConfused
Explorer
Jul 29, 2013
Excellent point about the battery. Of note, each time I've rolled the awning in or out, I've been connected to shore power. The meter inside the camper shows the batter as having a full charge, but I have not put my eyes on the water level or tested with a hygrometer. I will do so this evening.

With all that said, why would awning retraction require more effort than awning extension?

Thanks, everyone. I'll report back my findings after work today. We leave tomorrow morning for a 5-day trip. On my list is to determine how to wind in the awning manually if I need to...and ensuring I have the proper tools to do so. I'll make an assumption there is something I can access in the motor cover that allows me to manually turn the motor/gear?
robsouth
Explorer II
Jul 29, 2013
Verify full charge on the battery first.
MNtundraRet
Navigator
Jul 29, 2013
Have you checked your battery? What is the water-level in the battery-cells?

Electric-motors are a big draw on less than full charge batteries. Has the awning been lubricated at the joints, and kept clean from dirt?

Low battery(s) will slow the motor, and can also cause motor failure from over-heating while trying to run on low voltage. The motor used may be too small for the larger sized awnings.

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